How Do I Check Printer Ink Levels?

How to Check Your Printer Ink Levels

If your printouts are faded or blotchy, it may be time to replace your ink cartridges. When ink levels are running low, it can dry out and clog the ink nozzle. This means your printer will try and produce more ink than it usually would, which could cause your printer to break down.

How to Check Printer Ink Levels on Windows

To check printer ink levels on Windows regardless of the brand, follow these steps below:

Click the start menu and search for ‘Devices and Printers’.

Select devices and printers in the search bar. This will allow you to see the printers connected to the computer.

Click the printer you want to check, and you’ll see the ink levels at the bottom of the devices and printers section. It will appear under the status area, which you can click for more information.

Popular printer brands and how to check ink levels

How to check printer ink levels on an Epson printer

These printers are equipped with a Status Monitor Utility that checks the Epson ink grade in your printer. You can access this from the printer drive, which can be reached by the start menu or home screen dashboard, depending on your device model. You’ll be able to see lots of potential error information from here like paper jams. However, if an ink cartridge installed in the printer is broke, the utility will not be able to calculate the correct ink breakdown.

How to check how much ink is left in a HP printer

If you have a Windows PC you’ll need to download and run a free tool called HP Print and Scan Doctor. This will automatically perform troubleshooting diagnostics to identify any problems you may have.

To check the ink levels of your HP printer, open the tool and click Printer/Supply Levels. This will bring up the estimated ink and toner levels.

For Windows 10, Android and iOS you’ll need to download HP Smart app. The HP ink levels will be displayed on the app’s home screen.

How to check printer ink level on a Dell printer

Access the ink levels of your Dell printer from the control panel on your PC.

Select ‘view devices and printers’, under hardware and sound and click your printer.

From the printer options, you’ll be able to find the services tab and select Dell ink levels.

From here, you’ll be able to print a test page to determine the true printing levels.

How to find out how much printer ink is in your Lexmark printer

With a Lexmark printer you’ll be able to access the ink levels from either your computer or the printer’s display screen. From your computer, you’ll need to download and open the Lexmark P910 Series Utility. Once open, click the cartridges tab to see the Lexmark ink status.

How do you check ink levels on a Canon printer?

Launch the Canon IJ Status Monitor.

Click on the maintenance tab which will take you to the view printer status screen.

You’ll be able to view the ink levels on the pop-up screen.

If you need further information, click ‘ink detail’ and you’ll get a more detailed look into how much ink is left in your Canon printer.

How to check how much ink is left in a Brother printer

If you have a Brother printer, you can find the status monitor either from the printer’s LCD screen or from your PC’s control panel. On the printer, just click the ink or ink management key to find an option for ink volume. Access the ink status from a PC with the Status Monitor Utility. The quickest way to do this is to double-click the printer icon in the task tray on your desktop. This will bring up the ink’s colour levels. If you’re working from a mac, visit Macintosh and enter the follow pathway: HD/Library/Printers/Brother/Utilities.

How to check printer ink levels in a Kodak printer

Checking the ink levels on your Kodak all-in-one printer is very simple, as it can be done from your printer’s LCD dashboard. Press the home icon and click the right arrow which will take you to maintenance. From here you can check the levels so you’ll know when it’s time toreplace the cartridges.

Feeling confident when it comes to ensuring your printer is always ready to go? Check out our range of high quality ink cartridges if things are looking a little low.

I have been working in the printing industry with TonerGiant for over 12 years and am the resident technical printer expert. I'm also the Digital Marketing Manager at TonerGiant.co.uk (degree qualified) and I have a passion for helping people fix their printer issues. I'm also a big fan of all gadgets and technology.

14 Comments

The only way to check on a HP F2120 printer is to go via the settings cog in windows 10 (Start > click the cog > Devices > Printers & Scanners > Click the printer name > Manage > Printing Preferences. That should bring up a dialogue box for the printer and if the option is available in the printer software you can view how much ink is left (sometimes the printer just doesn’t allow it) or you may be able to print a status page from the dialogue box which will tell you how much is left.

Hi Angela, I’m not familiar with linux systems so I’m unsure about the options there.

RonH on February 13, 2020 at 9:15 pm

On our office HP printer the HP Print & Scan Doctor only shows you the ink level if you have genuine HP ink cartridges installed. Otherwise it shows non-HP cartridges as being empty (with an asterisk to the explanation).

unfortunately there is no information in the HP 1020 instruction manual on how to check toner levels. I would imagine that it’s possible to print a test page from the PC via the control panel / printers and devices option and normally how much toner that’s left is shown on the test page.